Methods and production lines are already well known, e.g. in the production of bearing components in form of bearing rings. The individual stations within the production line, such as a grinding machine, a honing machine, a cleaning unit, etc. are referred to in a simplified way as production system in the following. Hereby, the bearing components are treated in one production unit and transferred to the next production unit, wherein one transport unit is responsible for e.g. the bringing of one bearing component to one production unit and a transfer of the bearing component to the production unit and/or for a taking over of the bearing component from the production unit, a transport of the bearing component and a transfer of the bearing component to a production line, which is referred to as production system in the following. It is furthermore possible that a transport of the bearing component through a production unit is carried out by using the at least one transport unit. A transport unit can thus be a component of a production unit or be designed as a separate unit. Production units are hereby usually combined to one production line, which are of a different construction type and have to carry out different tasks. The result is that production units with different dimensions, infeed and discharge levels for the bearing component and furthermore different processing times for the bearing component have to be placed in a successive order. Any problems in the construction of a production line, that are arising thereof, are usually eliminated in that the at least one transport unit is configured and used in such a way that it can compensate height differences between production units that are following each other and that are connected, to place the bearing component into the necessary position for the following production unit, e.g. by means of turning over, turning around or tilting etc., and to provide an intermediary storage for bearing components that are not processed right away. Such a handling of the bearing components within a production line is elaborate and furthermore requires that the bearing components are subject to continuous mechanical intervention. One bearing component is e.g. picked up by using grippers, rolled out via ramps or guided by using slides, transported upwards in lifting devices or the like, wherein the bearing components can also come into contact with each other or bang against each other.
It has become evident, that such a method influences the surface quality and dimensional accuracy or the achievable tolerances of the bearing components.